BlackRock had recently become one of the latest financial institutions to call for sustainable investment. The company, the world’s biggest multinational investment management company with over $10 trillion in assets that it manages, had published a letter from its CEO Larry Fink which stated, “We focus on sustainability not because we’re environmentalists, but because we are capitalists and fiduciaries to our clients.”

“As part of that focus, we are asking companies to set short-, medium-, and long-term targets for greenhouse gas reductions. These targets, and the quality of plans to meet them, are critical to the long-term economic interests of your shareholders. It’s also why we ask you to issue reports consistent with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD): because we believe these are essential tools for understanding a company’s ability to adapt for the future,” he had added in the letter published in January.

Also read: Next 1000 unicorns will be green energy innovators, says BlackRock CEO Larry Fink

But now emails, gathered via Freedom of Information requests sent by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the thinktank InfluenceMap, have revealed that more may be going on behind the pictures.

The email was sent after BlackRock executives, Dalia Blass -- Senior Managing Director and Head of External Affairs -- met with the Chairman of Texas’s oil and gas regulator, Wayne Christian, a former Republican.

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“It was nice to hear that BlackRock didn’t mean -- or no longer believes -- many of the disagreeable things the company and its CEO Mr Fink have said about the oil and gas industry,” Christian wrote in the email following the meeting. He also added that the executives from BlackRock were “supportive” of the oil and gas industry and was conducting “ESG energy-related investments because of client demand.”

Also read: Why corporates need to step up to meet climate goals

“We are perhaps the world’s largest investor in fossil fuel companies. We want to see these companies succeed and prosper,” Blass wrote to Texas officials, in renewed support for the fossil fuel industry. The wooing of Texas officials comes as a response to the state’s new legislation that withdraws investment from financial institutions that boycott investing in the fossil fuel industry.

BlackRock’s walk-back on climate sustainability is not the only one from financial institutions. Others like Barclays, Citigroup and Wells Fargo have, without much fanfare, downplayed their environmental commitments. But these ‘u-turns’ may attract investigation from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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“It does not sound like these financial institutions are taking their climate commitments seriously, and they can’t have it both ways. If they have not been honest with investors about their climate policies, then this is certainly a matter for the SEC to look into,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

The SEC has already written to a number of banks that have acted as underwriters in the Republican-led state, asking them to show how these banks have been acting on the ESG policies that they have shared with investors, reported Reuters.

Also read: Scientists hired by oil giants predicted climate crisis 60 years ago: Report

While climate change becomes an increasing risk for the world, financial institutions seem to be promoting ESG principles while still wanting to maintain access to a large kitty of funds that such businesses (especially from US Republication states) can present. But these institutions present that their position has been clear to investors.

“BlackRock has been clear and consistent since January 2020 that climate risk is an investment risk that will impact returns

But activists, environmentalists and others aren’t necessarily impressed.

Also read: $5.9 trillion spent on fossil fuel subsidies in 2020: IMF

“We need to stop falling for this false choice between a healthy planet or a healthy economy. Fossil fuels give us neither. Last week’s IPCC report made it clear that climate change is already causing widespread damages and losses to people and ecosystems around the world, with increasingly irreversible consequences,” said Anusha Narayanan, climate campaign manager at Greenpeace USA to the Guardian.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)